Paraesthesia: .NET Development and Some Pictures of My Cat

Birthday Party Blues

I’m not much for kids, regardless of whose they are, and this weekend
found me at Jenn’s niece’s sixth birthday party, so there really wasn’t
a huge smile on my face.

It took place at Jenn’s grandma’s house in the trailer park out in
Canby. Actually it wasn’t at her house, but at the community center at
the “hub” of the bustling retirement community.

The first stop was actually at the house to visit Jenn’s grandma’s new
dog. Jenn’s cousin and wife moved to Hawaii and were unable to take the
dog with them so they left it with Grandma. It’s a silly pug dog named
Anchor (Jenn’s cousin and wife are both in the Navy).

I don’t really like dogs, but this dog was cool. Absolutely out of
control. No way could I have let it into my house, but it was fun to
play with while we were there.

After that we headed across the street to the community center where
the festivities were beginning. The festivities consisted of Jenn’s
sister cooking take-and-bake pizzas and me sitting and waiting for
something to happen. Kids (and their parents) slowly drifted in, Jenn’s
relatives started showing up (Jenn’s dad had to show me the cop car -
er, Ford Crown Victoria - that he bought… yet again confirming that I
hate American cars) and the party was underway.

Once some pizza had been pushed in our faces, gift-opening time rolled
around. Seeing as how this was a six-year-old’s birthday, the more kids
that showed up, the rowdier the guest of honor became until eventually
she was actually climbing on the table with the presents. Her mom told
her to get down, at which point, just before opening gifts, a small
tantrum was thrown.

Gifts were opened, yada yada yada (yes, you can yada-away the details
of a six-year-old’s birthday), and then it was game time. Rather than
pin the tail on the donkey, they had two games. The first, for the boys,
was “Pin The Tail On Spirit The Horse,” you know, from that
movie. The second game was
something like “Pin The Horn On The Pussy Pink Unicorn” for the girls.
I’m not sure about you, but even for a girl’s game, it was pretty gay.

And thus went the party. Nothing really happened of import. I think
Jenn’s uncle’s face says it best: